A policeman stands at the entrance to New York’s Bellevue Hospital after the city’s first case of Ebola was confirmed. Picture: Getty ImagesA doctor in New York who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea has tested positive for the deadly virus, becoming the city’s first diagnosed case.

The doctor, Craig Spencer, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday (New York time) and placed in isolation while healthcare workers spread out across the city to trace anyone he might have come into contact with him in recent days. A further test will be conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control to confirm the initial test.

Meanwhile,Mali became the sixth West African country to confirm an Ebola case, indicating again the disease’s barely controlled spread across porous regional borders.

A spokesman for the country’s health ministry said Thursday night that a girl 2 to 3 years old had tested positive for the disease and was in isolation at a hospital in one of the country’s provincial hubs, Kayes, on the western border with Senegal.

The girl had come from Guinea, where the worst-ever outbreak of the disease began and where it is still raging, the spokesperson said. Guinea shares a long border with Mali

At least one of the girl’s parents has died, probably from Ebola, he said, and a grandmother of the girl had traveled to Guinea from Mali to fetch her. In one potentially worrying aspect of the case, the little girl spent time in Mali’s densely packed capital, Bamako, a city of about 2 million people.

Three West African nations – Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia – continue to have “persistent and widespread transmission,” according to the World Health Organisation. Nearly 5000 people have died, the organisation reported.

Senegal and Nigeria, two other West African nations, have had isolated cases of the disease and have managed to eradicate it, for now, the health organisation said.

In the US, officials have said they expected isolated cases of the disease to arrive in New York eventually, and had been preparing for this moment for months. However the first case in the city highlighted the challenges surrounding containment of the virus, especially in a crowded metropolis.

Even as the authorities worked to confirm that Dr Spencer was infected with Ebola, it emerged that he travelled from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the subway on Wednesday night, when he went to a bowling alley and then took a taxi home.

The next morning, he reported having a temperature of 103 degrees, raising questions about his health while he was out in public.

KEEPING UP WITH DEMAND: Chinese workers make the protective suit for the handling of people infected with the Ebola virus.

Dr Spencer’s travel history and the timing of the onset of his symptoms led health officials to dispatch “disease detectives immediately began to actively trace all of the patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk,” according toa statement released by the department.

It was unclear if the city was trying to find people who might have come into contact with Dr Spencer on the subway. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority directed all questions to the health department, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the issue.

At Dr Spencer’s apartment in Harlem, his home was sealed off and workers distributed informational fliers about the disease. It was not clear if anyone was being quarantined.

Health authorities declined to say how many people in total might have come into contact with Dr Spencer while he was symptomatic.

New York mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a press conference before the diagnosis, said Dr Spencer has given health workers a detailed accounting of his activities over the last few days.

“Our understanding is that very few people were in direct contact with him,” Mr de Blasio said.

Dr Spencer had been working with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea, treating Ebola patients, before returning to New York City on October 14, according to a city official.

He told the authorities that he did not believe the protective gear he wore while working with Ebola patients had been breached but had been monitoring his own health.

Doctors Without Borders, in a statement, said it provides guidelines for its staff on their return from Ebola assignments, but did not elaborate on those protocols.

“The individual engaged in regular health monitoring and reported this development immediately,” the group said in a statement.

Dr Spencer began to feel sluggish earlier this week but did not develop afeveruntil Thursday morning, he told the authorities. At 11am, the doctor found that he had a 103-degree temperature and alerted the staff of Doctors Without Borders, according to the official.

The staff of Doctors Without Borders called the city’s health department, which in turn called the Fire Department.

Emergency medical workers, wearing full protective gear, rushed to Dr Spencer’s apartment on West 147th Street. He was transported to Bellevue and arrived shortly after 1pm.

He was placed in a special isolation unit and is being seen by the pre-designated medical critical care team. They are in personal protective equipment with undergarment air ventilation systems.

A healthcare worker at the hospital said that Dr Spencer seemed very sick and it was unclear to the medical staff why he had not gone to the hospital earlier, since his fever was high.

Dr Spencer is a fellow of international emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and an instructor in clinical medicine at Columbia University.

“He is a committed and responsible physician who always puts his patients first,” the hospital said in a statement. “He has not been to work at our hospital and has not seen any patients at our hospital since his return from overseas.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dispatched a team of experts to assist in the case, before the test results were even known.

Members of the Newcastle Hunter Valley Folk Club prepare for the weekend festival. Picture by Marina NeilTHE Hunter is humming with the gentle strumming of ukuleles emanating from the second Newkulele Festival.

President of Newcastle and Hunter Valley Folk Club Ron Brown said about 2500 people from across the country were expected to descend on Newcastle Jockey Club for the three day festival, which kicked off with a sold out Friday night concert featuring Canadian musician James Hill.

Mr Brown said the Hunter caught the fever about the portable instrument about four years ago, largely thanks to former member of The Castanet Club Mark Jackson and his partner Jane Jelbart, who have established ukestras across the region to help adults and school students form connections and create community.

‘‘Their energy and enthusiasm has been responsible for the ukulele’s growth in popularity,’’ Mr Brown said.

‘‘Other groups are now involved and we see the ukulele played in our region’s nursing homes and by musicians welcoming cruise ship passengers to the city.’’

Mr Brown said while most Australian children learn the recorder in school, playing the ukulele allows budding musicians to sing at the same time.

‘‘It’s fairly easy to start to learn,’’ he said.

MIc Conway It’s Only A Paper Moon ‘‘You can strum an open chord without knowing where to put your fingers and can play a lot of songs – including the modern classics– with just three chords.

‘‘People say you can’t play a sad note on the ukulele.’’

Festival entry is $5 on Saturday and Sunday, with a continuous program of performances, market stalls, a free beginners workshop and other paid workshops.

Tickets to the Saturday night concert featuring The Pockets, Sam and Lucy Lemann, Tyrone and Leslie and James Hill includes day admission.

‘‘Visitors will be amazed at what people can do with this instrument – even the virtuosos like James Hill perform with a lot of humour, they have fun with it.’’

One of the state’s top judges has warned that federal counter-terrorism laws may go too far and the implications will not be known for many years.

Margaret Beazley, the president of the Court of Appeal, said in a speech on Thursday night that the Abbott government’s Foreign Fighters Bill was an example of legislation that might extend “far beyond” the original problem.

Justice Beazley said she had observed in a speech over a decade ago that “the most cursory review of history reveals that difficult social and political times are productive of difficult legal times”.

“Although the seeds are sown in the period of turmoil, the legal implications are often not worked out until many years later, and often those legal implications are extended far beyond the scope of the original problem,” she said at the time.

Justice Beazley told the NSW Law Society on Thursday that “with the GFC and the introduction to national security legislation”, including the Foreign Fighters Bill, “these words are very much applicable to today”.

The Foreign Fighters Bill makes it a criminal offence for people to travel to terrorism “hot spots” as designated by the government.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed this week that the government had accepted all 36 recommended changes made by the joint standing committee on intelligence and security, which examined the bill.

The changes include greater oversight of the Foreign Minister’s ability to declare a terrorist hot spot a no-go zone and that the laws should have a sunset clause two years after the next election.

Mr Abbott said on Wednesday that he expected the laws to be passed by the end of next week.

The state government was also the target of criticism on Thursday. The NSW Law Society was “extremely disappointed” the government had introduced mandatory minimum eight-year prison terms for people convicted of fatal alcohol-fuelled assaults, president Ros Everett said.

It also condemned the government’s tightening of bail laws – with a review commissioned just four weeks after a new bail regime had started in NSW – as “another knee-jerk approach”.

Pattaya: Tim “Sharky” Ward boasts he pays to have sex with many Thai women.

The muscle-bound and tattooed former Australian loan shark and nightclub owner says his life is “there for all see” and he is not ashamed of it.

“I am a single man. There’s no one in my life who can say I am an embarrassment to them,” he said.

Mr Ward, a social media celebrity and long-time resident of Thailand, mocks his many critics.

“Life aint [sic] so bad for a pimp,” he wrote next to a photograph of a near-naked woman looking out to sea from the balcony of his apartment in Pattaya, a resort city 130 kilometres south-east of Bangkok.

But Mr Ward’s philandering ways and those of thousands of other foreign men like him are set to come under scrutiny as Thailand’s military rulers embark on a morality drive to transform the country’s image from being a sex-trade destination to one offering culture and natural resources.

Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul has announced a one-year plan to reform the tourism industry that accounts for 10 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

She said there is a need to change tourists’ perceptions of Thailand as a cheap destination to one of being a quality destination, singling out Pattaya, where there are more than 1000 bars and massage parlours that help draw in an estimated $3 billion a year in tourist income, according to the local tourism authority.

“Pattaya is a good place for a pilot project for change,” Ms Kobkarn said.

“It could be turned into a world class sports city. I would love to see more world water sports and other events in the city, as well as it being home for athletes’ training during low seasons,” she said.

Under the plan, tourists would be enticed away from Thailand’s popular destinations of Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Phuket and Hua Hin, all of which have thriving sex industries, to other provinces.

But 48-year-old Mr Ward, who has 132,000 Facebook followers on two sites, scoffs at the idea of scrubbing up Pattaya’s reputation.

“Look out there . . . it’s [polluted with] sewage. Who is going to sit on the beach all day and swim in that?” he says, pointing to Pattaya’s waterfront. “Without the sex industry, what else would people do here?”

A huge sign that reads “Good Guys Go to Heaven. Bad Guys Go to Pattaya” hangs above a bar in the city’s famous Walking Street, which becomes packed with tourists after dark as neon casts a pale glow over the thickly made-up faces of female and male sex workers who sit at bars waiting for customers.

Attempts to rebrand Pattaya, which attracted more than nine million visitors last year, into a more family-friendly destination with higher-spending tourists have been under way for years.

South-east Asia’s largest water theme park has opened 15 kilometres south of the city, a waterfront Hard Rock Hotel is popular with family groups as is a “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” museum, among other family attractions.

There has been talk of a monorail to relieve traffic-clogged streets and the waterfront his been spruced up with a boardwalk and palm trees.

Regional deputy police commander Suppatee Boonkrong admitted last month that Pattaya has a thriving sex industry but asked “show me anywhere in the world without a dark side and I will be amazed”.

He said the city is no longer a paedophile’s paradise as it was a few years ago, black water no longer comes up from the sea and “I can count the number of rats I’ve encountered in the city on one hand”.

“Yes, Pattaya has many problems but I honestly think serious efforts are now being made to cure them,” he said.

Colonel Suppatee told the Bangkok Post he wants to “change the image of Pattaya from being sin city to a friendly town that everyone can enjoy”, adding the first targets in a police crackdown are transgender street sex workers.

Prostitution is technically illegal in conservative Buddhist Thailand, where for decades authorities have largely turned a blind eye to an industry that has boomed since the days that US soldiers from the Vietnam War flooded in for rest and recreation.

Mr Ward, who describes himself as an entrepreneur, has lashed out at Thai police for failing to take action over what he said was an attempt to set him up with drugs in late September.

“I don’t take drugs and I don’t drink,” he said.

A fearsome-looking character with “SELF MADE” tattooed on his knuckles, Mr Ward is quietly spoken and spends much of his time caring for stray street animals and bailing sex workers out of trouble with the police.

But he admits he becomes involved in fights and has paid police in the past to avoid jail.

On his Facebook site, New Zealand-born Mr Ward mocks and abuses Thai authorities for alleged corruption and incompetence but insists the country will remain his home, in between trips back to the Gold Coast where he lived for 20 years.

Senior state government solicitor Helen Allison at the royal commission into child sex abuse. Photo: Royal commissionA senior state government solicitor, who told the Department of Community Services not to have settlement talks with 15 Aboriginal women suing the state over horrific sex abuse they suffered as children in the 1970s and 1980s, has admitted she was wrong.

Helen Allison was the supervising solicitor for the Crown Solicitors Office as it defended a claim by the women from the Bethcar chilren’s home, a state-funded institution at Brewarrina in the state’s north-west.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard that, under Ms Allison’s supervision, state government solicitor Evangelos Manollaras fought the victims at every turn, refusing to accept that a number had ever been abused, and hatching a plan to put them under surveillance.

The commission, sitting in Sydney, heard on Friday that, in June 2011, three years after the victims commenced the lawsuit, Ms Allison gave formal legal advice to DOCS, the defendant in the case, not to undertake any form of mediation with the victims.

This was even though the women had repeatedly indicated that they were willing to settle the matter, that the legal costs on both sides were already “enormous”, that a man had been convicted on child-sex charges, and that there was a likelihood the state would eventually lose.

“Certainly in hindsight, we should have gone to mediation,” Ms Allison conceded in the commission on Friday.

“And the department certainly thought I got it wrong because, on getting my advice, they said they wanted to mediate.”

Nevertheless, it was another 2½ years before the state engaged in meaningful settlement talks with the victims.

In April this year, 5½ years after the action was launched, the government agreed to apologise for the abuse and pay each victim $107,000 in damages.

“The sheets of rice noodle literally shimmer in front of you, a dash of soy and some fresh chilli transport this mouthful to another level!”

The eponymous restaurant started as a hole-in-the-wall eatery specialising in dim sum, and now has another branch in Hong Kong as well as five in Singapore. But Kwong would always choose the original location to feast on the noodles.

“This particular branch of his world-famous dim sum eatery is my favourite – it is modest, unassuming, down to earth, humble and all about the food – very much like the man himself,” says Kwong.

“The chocolate biscuit from [restaurant] Bras in Laguiole, France,” says Bennett without hesitation. Otherwise known as coulant de chocolat, the lava-like chocolate dessert was created in 1980 by chef Michel Bras.

It’s renowned and has been appropriated worldwide for, as Bennett says, “that liquid centre …need I say more?” Bennett was given some tips by the master himself a few years ago and now serves it in his Bistro Vue, with the permission of Bras, whose namesake restaurant is in the south of France.

It’s still worth a visit because Bras now serves variations on the theme, including an icy version, hot, with fruit and even vegetables.

THE DETAILS

Bras coulant de chocolate costs about $50. If you did want to try before you fly, the recipe for the coulant is available on the Bras website. See bras.fr

THE CHEF

John Lawson, No 8, Crown Melbourne

THE RESTAURANT AND THE DISH

Lawson would fly 22 hours for a Green Garden Gazpacho from Blue Hill at Stones Barnes in New York state’s Hudson Valley but it’s not just for the cold soup.

“It’s an amazing working farm, restaurant and educational centre,” he says.

“The owners inherited the farm from their grandmother and it’s their mission to encourage people to eat locally and be more aware of the effect of everyday food choices.”

Everything served at the restaurant is sourced from the surrounding fields, as well as other farms to highlight the abundant resources of the region. Visitors are offered multi-course “farmer’s feasts” with the best seasonal offerings from the farm and market.

“I hadn’t heard about the dish as menus don’t exist at Blue Hill and the dishes served change daily and sometimes hourly,” says Lawson, who first visited the restaurant in 2007. He especially loves that ingredients are collected from the garden upon ordering and, as if proof were needed, presented to the diner before cooking.

“You would be a fool to travel so far for one dish,” says Squires before unfoolishly naming Christian Puglisi’s celebrated Relae, in Copenhagen, as the restaurant he would head to. The dish?

“Veal tongue and salsify,” he says. “I first tried it in 2011 on recommendation from Noma.”

Puglisi is a former Noma alumnus who, together with Kim Rossen, opened the new Nordic restaurant in the Norrebro district. Once notorious, the area is now filled with hip eateries and bars.

“It’s just not the dish, it’s the environment, the experience, its the restaurants next door [that you travel for],” says Squires.

THE DETAILS

Relae has two set menus, one for omnivores and another for vegetarians starting at $87. See restaurant-relae.dk

THE CHEF

Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate, Porteno, Sydney

THE RESTAURANT AND THE DISH

Abrahanowicz fondly remembers feasting on a baby goat cooked over charcoal in a small restaurant in Villa Carlos Paz, Cordoba, Argentina.

“Made by a local older man, this dish was the best meat I have ever eaten, I’ve never forgotten it,” he says. “The restaurant is in the town that my mother came from, I just came across it by pure luck when visiting there in 2002 and have not had a chance to go back since.”

Villa Carlos Paz is a city with a population of 75,300 in the province of Cordoba. There are a handful of asado restaurants along the streets of Libertad and 9 de Julio.

“My folks went to the restaurant last time they went back, and the old man [Adan, who is the master of Porteno’s fire pit] agrees, the baby goat dish is amazing,” he says.

THE DETAILS

Villa Carlos Paz Tourism, see villacarlospaz上海龙凤论坛m

THE CHEF

Andrew McConnell, Supernormal, Melbourne

THE RESTAURANT AND THE DISH

The busy chef is on the road at the moment so doesn’t have to think back too far for the dish he’d travel for. “Three weeks ago I tried the mackerel with candied lemon, white anchovy and lovage at L’Astrance by chef Pascal Barbot,” says McConnell.

The three Michelin-starred Parisian restaurant offers no menu and instead asks diners to choose the number of courses they desire and leave it up to the chef.

“Its simplicity in composition yet it is complex, layered and elegant,” says McConnell.

Would-be diners are advised to book well ahead because the restaurant seats fewer than 40 and is closed on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

THE DETAILS

L’Astrance offers not a menu but a three-course fixed-price lunch from about $100. See astrancerestaurant上海龙凤论坛m

THE CHEF

Martin Benn, Sepia, Sydney

THE RESTAURANT AND THE DISH

Martin Benn would head directly to two Michelin-starred Jimbocho Den, Tokyo for the Ikura with sushi rice and grilled Buri Hamachi. “Like everything in Japan, it is so seasonal and is only available in September and October,” says Benn.

The tiny restaurant, set amongst antique stores and secondhand booksellers, is discreet, a small wooden sign its only beacon. But the food is bold. “The rice is called shinmai, which comes from the first rice crop of the year and is more sticky and shiny than usual,” says Benn.

“Also, just as the rice, the ikura [salmon roe] is very seasonal, it comes from Hokkaido.” Den’s chef, Zaiyu Hasegawa, creatively adds to the spectacle with humour, such as serving “Dentucky Fried Chicken” in a KFC cardboard box

THE DETAILS

Jimbochi Den Tokyo serves a set-menu dinner for about $124. See jimbochoden上海龙凤论坛m

THE CHEF

Dan Hunter, Brae, Birregurra, Victoria

THE RESTAURANT AND THE DISH

Dan Hunter would buy plane tickets to San Sebastian and drive an hour to the Atxondo hills for a table at Asador Etxebarri. “I’d order the baby eels [angulas] lightly smoked over charcoal,” says Hunter.

Etxebarri chef Victor Arguinzoniz is known as the wood-grill maestro. “[It’s] a rare, revered product in the Basque country handled with skill and individuality,” says Hunter of the dish. The menu is created daily, based upon those seasonal products that are most freshly available. “I was lucky enough to be in the Basque country in 2009 during the angula season,” he says. The baby eels are available from November to March.

THE DETAILS

The menu changes daily but the guide price per meal is about $180, excluding wine and tax. See asadoretxebarri上海龙凤论坛m/en/

THE CHEF

Teage Ezard, Ezard and Gingerboy, Melbourne, Black by Ezard, Sydney

THE RESTAURANT AND THE DISH

Teage Ezard would travel to both coasts of the United States to sample Thomas Keller’s signature dish again. “I tried Keller’s oysters and pearls, which is a sabayon of pearl tapioca with Island Creek oysters and Sterling white sturgeon caviar for the first time at French Laundry in the Napa Valley, then for a second time at Per Se in New York – within one week,” says Ezard.

“The dish is extremely rich, luxurious and decadent; a memorable experience that will never be forgotten,” says Ezard. While the dish is the same, each setting offers a distinct experience. Per Se offers striking views of Central Park while Keller’s first restaurant, French Laundry, is housed in a former saloon in the more-verdant Napa Valley.

“The one place I can’t forget, and I have visited three times over two trips to Italy, is Cantinetta Antinori in Florence,” says Riemer. And the dish she tried again and again was the risotto.

“The first visit was with [fellow chef] Karen Martini when we were two young chefs. We visited Florence through our mutual love of Italian food and wine,” says Riemer. “Several years later I went back to Florence on my own and revisited the restaurant and had a sublime porcini risotto with a glass of Antinori Tignanello.”

Riemer loved the trattoria so much she went back the next night, sat at the same table and ordered the risotto and wine again. And she’ll do it again. The restaurant is run by the Antinori family, who have been winemakers for 26 generations (yes, 26).

“They have the true Italian spirit of hospitality and know how to match the perfect plate of food with a glass of wine,” she says.

THE DETAILS

Cantinetta Antinori’s menu is seasonal. Allow for about $75 a head for two courses with a glass of wine. See cantinetta-antinori上海龙凤论坛m

There are plenty of players with deep and abiding memories of the Melbourne A-League derby.

But there are few, save Melbourne Victory’s current coach, Kevin Muscat, with the experience of John Aloisi, the man who was his counterpart for much of the past four years.

Like Muscat, ex-Melbourne Heart boss John Aloisi played in, and coached, his team in the game.

The former Socceroo striker has one more claim to fame than the man who was his international teammate for so many years – he has actually scored in derby matches too, netting the first goal in the first meeting between the two Melbourne clubs back in October 2010.

On Saturday, Muscat will be on the touchline coaching, cajoling and exhorting his players, making tactical adjustments and decisions over substitutions, hoping and praying for the win that will give his side bragging rights in a game that always assumes massive importance no matter where each side is on the ladder.

This time Aloisi will be in the Fox Sports commentary box calling and analysing the game for the Pay TV broadcaster, for whom he has been working since his dismissal by the then Melbourne Heart in the middle of the last A-League season.

He will have to concentrate just as much as he did when he wore a suit and tie and stood on the sidelines leading his team as he tries to explain to what will be a bumper television audience the nuances of tactics and moves being made on the pitch.

But this time his career won’t depend on the outcome and he can go home and sleep easy whatever the result.

Still, Aloisi would love to be coaching or playing once more in the sort of combustible fixture that tests players’ nerves and character more than any other.

He played in the first three derbies in the 2010-11 campaign, was an assistant coach for three more the next year (2011-12) and coached the next four, covering the 2012-13 season and the beginning of the 2013-14 season before his axing.

“I used to say to my players in the week leading up to the derbies when I was coaching them that the only thing I missed about playing was not being involved in derby matches any more,” he said.

“They really get the adrenalin going as you know how deeply your supporters feel about it and their rivals. I loved playing in them, and coaching was the next best thing – although I didn’t love it when Archie Thompson scored in the last minute in that derby when we lost 2-1 at AAMI,” he added ruefully.

“Even as a coach, it feels better as you love to be working in front of a full house, hearing that noise and all the energy from the crowd. It gets to the players and you try to make it work for you.”

As everyone knows, derby matches don’t always run to the form guide.

“I remember that first A-League season really well. We had gone up to Brisbane the game before and we had been absolutely awful. We were terrible, we lost 4-0 and if it had not been for Bootsa [goalkeeper Clint Bolton)] it would have been about 10.

“Nobody gave us a chance in the derby on that form, but we came out and turned it round and won the first one, so that’s obviously a brilliant memory.”

Aloisi had plenty of experience in playing in big games overseas, and he feels that the Australian derbies, particularly those in Melbourne, are beginning to develop the same feel.

“When I played at Osasuna in Spain, I experienced that rivalry in a big way. It was with Athletic Bilbao. They were our main rivals and they were a bit of a bigger club than us. We didn’t have anywhere near the number of fans they had, so it meant an awful lot if we could put one over on them.

“I also played in West Midlands derbies in the English Premier League when I was with Coventry City. They have fallen away now, but back then, they had been an established top-tier club and I remember the game when we won 4-1 at Villa Park and I scored. That was an absolute highlight for our fans. George Boateng scored two, and he ended up playing at Villa! I got two goals in the match playing up front. It was one of the best memories from my time in England.

“Every derby game, no matter at what level, has got something special about it. Usually it’s a lot of history, especially in the UK, Spain and other parts of Europe and with every game that takes place every year that whole derby atmosphere just gets stronger, especially if there has been some controversy in the past.

“Here in Australia, these derbies are growing. You saw the crowd and the tension and what a huge occasion it was in Sydney last weekend. There was such a lot of feeling and you knew both sides really wanted to win it.

“The Melbourne one has just built, year on year, and it’s starting to feel what it was like in Europe. In the days leading up to the games more people are talking about it, there’s more on the television and in the press, people are wishing you luck or asking for tickets.”

Aloisi’s coaching career could hardly have got off to a better start than in his first game in charge when Heart beat Victory 2-1 in front of more than 43,000 people at Etihad. Alas for Aloisi, his career rarely reached those heights again, as he acknowledged with a smile.

“I wish every game after that had been a derby! The players were up for it, we won, it was a great start. But it wasn’t to carry on like that.”

Heart broke even with Victory in the 12 derbies they played, each side winning four with four drawn. Often Victory was higher on the table but it made no difference to the red and whites.

“As a player, you have to know how important these games are to the fans. They are cheering you on, they want you to give everything.

“Victory has been very successful and has had those big crowds all the time. Heart players didn’t get the chance to play in front of big crowds all the time and I think it lifted them. It’s really much easier to get up for the game when you know there will be a lot of people there. You find the energy to make more runs, to chase back, make that tackle or block.”

Aloisi believes this game is finely balanced, but he leans towards Victory.

“It’s hard to call this one because so much has changed for both teams, but I think the big players will be the ones to make a difference,” he said.

“Damien Duff and David Villa are obviously class acts for City and if they hit form and get their way, they could wreak havoc. But Victory have matchwinners of their own, too. Archie [Thompson] is always a threat in this kind of situation, while [Besart] Berisha has scored goals consistently throughout his time in the A-League.

“And look out for Gui Finkler, too. He’s a clever player, he can set the forwards up, but he is capable of scoring himself in open play or from a set piece.

“I like the firepower Victory have got, so if I was picking a winner I think I would have to go for them. They have also strengthened with Carl Valeri in the centre of midfield and their French centre-back Matthieu Delpierre is a classy defender, so I think their spine is strong and they will be hard to break down.

“Then again, you wouldn’t say City couldn’t win. Apart from their big names from Europe, they have signed the likes of [Erik] Paartalu and Aaron Mooy and they have got a lot more strength in depth through the squad now.”

While Aloisi will enjoy working at the game in a media role, he is keen to return to a more hands-on role in the game.

“I want to coach again eventually. It didn’t work out at Heart, but I know I learned an awful lot from the experience and it will make me a stronger and better coach.

“In the meantime, I am enjoying working with Fox and watching lots of games and analysing them. I will probably go back to Europe next year, to Barcelona, where a friend of mine, Juan Carlos Unzue, is an assistant coach, and see what I can learn. You never stop learning in this game.”

CLEAN RUNNING: Good grooming on the field is part of the skill set being taught to soccer junior players. JUNIOR sport is full of coaches who want their players to be a cut above, but some parents are scratching their heads over an email from a soccer official telling nine-year-olds to use ‘‘wet look’’ hair gel or find themselves benched.

The hair gel edict was one of several handed down to players in the under-10 representative program, who were told to ‘‘have pristine personal appearance’’.

‘‘Spotlessly clean hair not only combed but gelled (wet look) and well off their face (even those with short hair),’’ the email specified.

Helpfully, photos of European club stars Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and James Rodríguez were attached. Other requirements were spotlessly clean teeth, faces and hands, and shaking the coach’s hand on arrival.

STYLING UP: Gareth Bale

Players looking ‘‘below expectations’’ were warned they ‘‘may likely spend more time on the bench than others’’.

TIDY LOCKS: Lionel Messi is not known for using hair product, but always looks neat regardless.

Topics contacted the presumably dapper official, who insisted his email was ‘‘banter’’.

‘‘It’s part of a light-hearted relationship with some of the kids at training,’’ he said.

GORGEOUS: Christiano Ronaldo, whose hair is never Messi either.

‘‘We are a club that likes to set standards of personal appearance and things like that, but it’s just a nothing story.’’

But while some parents might have welcomed the message, or taken it as a joke, others were combing it for traces of humour.

‘‘I thought it was just bizarre,’’ said one father.

‘‘I’m not going to put wet gel in my son’s hair. It’s just not appropriate; it’s a personal preference, it’s nothing to do with sport.’’

He said he was ‘‘a bit worried’’ about his son showing up sans gel, while another dad quipped the next must-have would be ‘‘a bowtie’’.

While we’re confident all parties will sort out the sticky issue, Topics is left asking: what is it with soccer players and hair gel? Does it get in their eyes? Did Pele use it?

PRODUCT: Hair gel has been listed as an approved grooming aid for junior soccer players.

And is junior sport, once the province of all shapes and sizes and kids who’d chase butterflies or kick the wrong way, getting too serious?

‘‘THEY weren’t all duds, mate,’’ says Kevin Saddler of Carrington.

He’s referring to the American All Stars rugby league squad of 1953 (Topics, October 20), and specifically the late Gary Kerkorian.

This bloke so impressed on the tour of Australia and New Zealand that, as Kevin remembers it, he was signed for a stint with South Sydney. No mean feat back then.

Kevin, who travelled from Mackay to watch the tourists play a side in Townsville, remembers Kerkorian making his mark from the outset.

The Guardian’s Gavin Willacy travelled to San Francisco last year to track down squad members, and had some success. It turns out Gary Kerkorian was one of six All Stars who attended Stanford University.

‘‘Kerkorian kicked nine goals from nine in a narrow defeat to Brisbane at the Gabba and five years later became the only rugby league player to win the NFL, as back-up quarterback with Baltimore Colts,’’ writes Willacy.

In its new, cashed-up ambitious guise, no one can accuse the Manchester City-owned Melbourne City of not thinking big.

Having signed Spanish World Cup winner David Villa on a guest stint and been thwarted by FFA rulings in their efforts to bring in Chelsea legend Frank Lampard, City has turned its attention to Australian marquee players.

And it is now looking at some of the biggest names of all, including Socceroo talisman Tim Cahill, who signed a 3½-year contract with his Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls in mid 2012.

Also on City’s radar is Socceroo midfielder Mark Bresciano, who has long been touted as a potential signing for the Latrobe University-based club, while international striker Josh Kennedy is another name who has, in the past, been linked with City.

The club is looking to shore up its position should Villa not return from his brief guest stint period after he returns to New York at the end of the month and coach John van’t Schip says there are a number of possibilities.

Crucially, he confirmed that the club hoped to make an announcement soon.

“We have still that spot left for an Australian marquee. We will look around and try to get someone who can score goals. We have time to think about it. It’s not only that we are thinking about it just right now. We are planning and hopefully we can announce something in the coming weeks.”

Asked whether the likes of Bresciano and Cahill were under consideration, van’t Schip confirmed that they had been discussed.

“We are looking at a lot of options. Mark is one of the players who we have had in here training with us last year. We were talking with him to get him in, but that moment it was not possible. In football things change, it could be a possibility.

“They (potential signings) are all players who can add something to the team. Looking at Tim, what he is doing at this moment with the national team, everyone can see. He is at the end of his career, but he is still fit and adding a lot of value, he’s a player we talk about as well.”

Cahill and Bresciano – who has been playing in Qatar with Al-Gharafa – will both be in Australia in January to play for the Socceroos in the Asian Cup. Kennedy’s contract with Nagoya Grampus ends in December, and he has long been rumoured to be a City target.

Ahead of the derby, van’t Schip said the fact that this was the first in a new era under the English Premier League champion’s ownership made little difference.

“Every game is important and the game against Victory is, of course, special. We all know that in the past those games have brought a lot of extra publicity … it’s the same, the only thing that has changed is that we have new owners and a change of name. But all the other things stay the same.”

He agreed that high-pressure matches such as this one – an Etihad sell-out – put a premium on experience, but also added that young players have in the past really made an impact in derbies, particularly in the Melbourne Heart days.

“Experienced players, they have to take the responsibility, but on the other hand you often see younger players stepping up,” he said.

“Look to the past derbies we played, we threw in players who played their first game, Aziz Behich, Craig Goodwin, even Ross Archibald came in, and Curtis Good played in the derby. They step up and show they are able to play big games as well. It (this game) could be young players rising to the occasion.”